STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF OUR ATTACK IN MIKEL ARTETA’S FOUR FULL SEASONS AT THE CLUB.
It has been no surprise that we’ve been consistently on an upward trajectory ever since Mikel Arteta’s first full season at the club. Starting from that campaign Arsenal have improved one way or the other whether be it position wise (on the log) or in any major area of the pitch.
The particular area which we’ve improved consistently has been the Attack. This development can be confirmed without delving too deep into the stats, but today I would like to look at key showcase stats that show how far our attacking output has come. The five main stats that I’ll use to showcase this development will be Total goals scored, goals per game, big chances per game, shots per game and shots on target per game.
2020/2021 SEASON
A season where we finished 8th caused by the combination of a leaky defense, misfiring attack and everything in between. This was where the ArtetaOut movement began, but after steadying the ship in the latter stages of the campaign, he eventually kept his role.
The attacking stats for this campaign read:
Goals- 55
Goals per game- 1.4
Big chances per game- 1.7
Shots per game- 12.1
Shots on target per game- 4.8.
2021/22 SEASON
The second full season of his tenure saw massive strides being taken forward both in the attacking and defensive side of things, jumping three places to end the campaign in 5th.
Our attacking stats read.
Goals- 61
Goals per game- 1.6
Big chances per game- 1.8
Shots per game- 15.5
Shots on target per game- 5.2.
2022/23 SEASON.
Arsenal not only returned comfortable back into the top 4 in this campaign but were also involved in a title race, that we probably should have won. Major improvements were made from the previous campaign, and this led to a jump in the key attacking stats which read:
Goals- 88
Goals per game- 2.3
Big chances per game- 2.6
Shots per game- 15.6
Shots on target per game- 5.4.
2023/24 SEASON
In a season that we broke out record goal tally in the PL further improvements were made over the stats in the season before. This made missing out on the title an even more tough pill to swallow considering the quality we had on display for large parts of the season, the attacking stats read..
Goals- 91
Goals per game- 2.4
Big chances per game- 3
Shots per game- 17.3
Shots on target per game- 6.
Looking through the stars chronologically it is very clear that our attacking play has been on a consistent trajectory to the top.
Looking to usurp one of the best teams in the world, however, will need us to make even more improvements to those stats in the forthcoming season and in ready for Mikel to work his magic.
Can Mikel continue improving on these stats in the coming season? I don’t see why not….
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
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I think every department in the field has shown improvements under Arteta. I hope again next season we improve everywhere in the field and eventually become Champions.
The one stat that really needs significant improvement is the shot conversion rate. A conversion rate of roughly 33% is not good enough for a top team that has the ambition of winning things.
Perhaps that explains why the cry for a prolific finisher upfront has been so strident.
Or, maybe, playing Havertz upfront could do the trick because since he was converted into a striker midway into last season the shot conversion rate improved.
Either way, we need to put away more of the big chances we create on the pitch
I agree. Shot conversion is the next step. In both our matches against Villa, for instance, we played well enough to win. It was just that we couldn’t convert our chances. Same story against Westham.
Another aspect of shot conversion is chance creation. Are we creating enough clear cut chances from open play? I think we can improve in this aspect as well.
At the moment it feels like we are relying heavily on Odegaard and Saka to create chances.When both of them are marked e.g. against Bayern,our creativity suffers. Rice, our fullbacks,Havertz,Jesus,Martinelli and perhaps a new signing should help us create more chances.
Great article 👏🏽